Meeting on fraternity, Cardinal Gambetti: 'We want a billion signatures'

"We want to reach the goal of one billion signatures." This was said by Card. Mauro Gambetti, archpriest of the Vatican basilica, vicar general of the Pope for Vatican City and president of the Fabric of St. Peter, presenting in the Vatican press room the World Meeting on Human Fraternity, entitled "Not alone" (#notalone), scheduled for June 10 at 16.00 pm in St. Peter's Square and, simultaneously, in eight other squares around the world. in the presence of the Pope. As part of the initiative, which will be attended by almost 30 Nobel Prize winners - inspired by the Encyclical Fratelli tutti and organized by the Vatican Foundation Fratelli tutti -, a "document calling for commitment to human fraternity" will be drawn up, to be presented to Pope Francis and, with the Pontiff, "to all the people in the world who feel they can accept the call to build a society based on solidarity, justice and peace".

The event - as Carlo Conti, who will host it, explained in the Vatican press office - will be broadcast worldwide on the Vatican media (from 16.00 pm), RAI1 (from 17.00 pm to 18.45 pm) and in streaming on the social platforms of the "Fondazione Fratelli tutti". The Meeting, said Father Francesco Occhetta of the Fratelli Tutti Foundation, "represents a first step to help rediscover the meaning of fraternity and to build it culturally because it is not given biologically; Fraternity needs encounter and dialogue, knowledge, shared words and gestures, common languages and an experience of beauty. The event will demonstrate how it is first and foremost a relational good that the market cannot produce. That's why the organization is the result of a gift: hundreds of people are donating their time for free to organize everything". On June 10, personalities from science, culture, society and international associations will alternate, together with artists. Among the artists present: Al Bano, Amara, Andrea Bocelli, Roberto Bolle, Giovanni Caccamo, Cristicchi, Hauser, Carly Paoli, Piccolo Coro dell'Antoniano, Mr. Rain, Amii Stweart and Paolo Vallesi. The culminating moment will be the meeting, at 18.00, between the square and Pope Francis who will sign the document on universal human fraternity, drawn up in the morning by about 30 Nobel Prizes, and will give a speech to the world. The connected squares will be eight: Congo (Brazzaville); Trapani (with the ship Mare Jonio of Mediterranea Saving Humans); Central African Republic (Bangui); Ethiopia; Argentina (Buenos Aires); Israel (Jerusalem); Nagasaki (Japan); Peru (Lima). The event will see the participation of an international representation of young people - also from Russia and Ukraine - who, at the end of the day, holding hands, will join in a big embrace in the colonnade of St. Peter's Square, an architectural symbol of the universal embrace of the Church. With them are expected realities of ecclesial and lay commitment, families, associations and those who today are forced to live on the margins of society, from the poorest and homeless to migrants and victims of violence and human trafficking. Thanks to a memorandum of understanding signed with the Ministry of Education and Merit, the Meeting will also present the work carried out in recent months by Italian schools on the theme of fraternity. The day, conceived as a process and experience of building fraternity, will be divided into two moments: in the morning some groups will meet to share paths of communion that will be told in the afternoon. The afternoon event in St. Peter's Square will begin at 16.00 and will be open to all, without registration, with access to the square starting at 14.00.

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